


Mamoru's Memories

by Sweetsugariness



Category: Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon | Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon (Anime & Manga)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-28
Updated: 2019-02-28
Packaged: 2019-11-07 04:59:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,026
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17954048
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sweetsugariness/pseuds/Sweetsugariness
Summary: In the middle of the night, Mamoru thinks back to the two girls who brightened his life.





	Mamoru's Memories

The watch shone best in moonlight, or at least that’s what he told himself as he placed it on his nightstand. Thanks to the large windows of his apartment, the rays of the moon could pour in and completely bathe the pocket watch. It shone so much that glowed like the actual star it mimicked. 

 

A part of Mamoru snarked that he was much too old for a nightlight. But the watch wasn’t a nightlight, not really. Those help children feel less afraid of the shadows that cloaked their rooms in frightening shapes. No such shadows draped his bedroom - and shadow don’t keep him awake in terror. His memories lulled him to sleep instead, and seeing the moonlit star helped him think up the best memories.

 

For instance, the gold of the star itself reminded him of golden hair. Specifically, the twin streams of gold he saw go streaking in front of him just before a paper ball flew in Mamoru’s face. At that time, he hadn’t the slightly clue. It made him chuckle softly in the night to think of how their romance started thusly. But in retrospect, was it all that shocking? Their shouting match only made him note the pink gloss of her lips and blue eyes under furrowed blonde brows. Of course, back then, he chided himself soon after. How could this Usagi girl distract him for even a moment, Mamoru thought. He had more important matters to attend to.

 

Those matters related to the watch as well. A week ago he bought the trinket at OSA-P, a small jewelry store that catered to young women. The woman seemed thrilled that a high-school boy strolled into her store without shame. She gabbed and gabbed to him with so much unbridled delight that Mamoru had to make his face a mask, lest she see his guilt. The truth was, he had more than just a purchase on his mind. He needed to scope out the store - check which cameras went where, which cases could he crack open the fastest. And the night she met her was the same night he planned to rob the place.

 

Another starry-haired girl crossed his path and wrecked his plans. He remembered that star filled night, as he crept closer to the store. He hadn’t intended on even bringing the pocket watch but he would admit that it fit the mask and tuxedo look he aimed for. A simple jewel heist, in and out, or that is what Mamoru had cooked up in his head. The first-last thing he expected was a horde of monster women. The second-last thing he expected was a sailor suited heroine to jump into the scene. The third-last thing he expect was for that same heroine to wail loud enough to shatter glass.

 

But the absolute last thought in the world Mamoru Chiba figured he’d have came to him when he had a rose between his fingertips.  _ She reminds me of that Bun-head. _ That thought made him throw the rose and distract the monsters from their screaming target.

 

He encouraged her not to cry. When she healed the malformed women, he praised her. Her lovestruck smile warmed his drumming heart. Those blue eyes of hers sparkled just as much as the tiara above them did. Those blue eyes of hers pulled him in, like a whirlpool. If he hadn’t remembered his true purpose, he might have simple stared at them and her for too long.

Instead, he fled back to his apartment. The night wind could not chill him. The long run back could not tire him. He beamed the whole way home, full of awe. That girl was fascinating- powerful, but so human at the same time. Mamoru often thought up of reasons to hide his feelings, to be the polite and responsible young man society demanded he be. Her fear and her courage, her whole heart, was displayed shamelessly. While Mamoru chided himself again, do not get distracted, the hope that they’d meet again buoyed him the whole night.

 

Luckily they did meet again, and again and again. Plagued by youma, Japan needed Sailor Moon, as he found out she was called. While she still had fears, Mamoru got to watch her courage bloom. Slowly but surely her voice became steelier, not stuttering or muffled by tears. He saw Sailor Moon tumble, squawk, and fall, but then get back on her feet. She even squiggled through the window onto a demonic bus one time. And of course he charge right after her, searching for a prize but increasingly forgetting his mission when the chance to see Sailor Moon in action came around.

 

And whenever Sailor Moon wasn’t around, a certain Bunhead bothered him. He told himself, and had to keep telling himself, that her presence bothered him. They squabbled over anything and everything - video games, sweets, her strange cat to name a few. She got in his face, her pearly teeth in a snarl and her small hands balled in fists. While he admired how Sailor Moon was an open book, Usagi seemed to pry his journal of a heart despite his attempts to lock it shut. He pouted at her, he gaped at, he complained when her shoes found themselves on him somehow. All his years of building walls between him and the world meant nothing, because this girl who got 30s in English toppled everything in months.

 

Worse yet, he couldn’t be happier. It took only a few minutes after Usagi stomped off after one of their tiffs for his lips to quirk up in a grin. He thought about how immature she acted and it made him laugh - then he thought about how immature he acted and it made him laugh harder. People noticed too. One day Motoki told him in a sing-song voice that he’d tell Usagi that Mamoru always smiled when he mentioned her. Mamoru would cough out a fake laugh and pretend he was joking. He played pretend solely for his own sake. 

 

Mamoru never completely forgot about his mission - to find the Silver Crystal and rediscover his memories - but things changed. Before he had been buried, miserably, in his hunt for his past. Usagi and Sailor Moon, they gave him reasons to care about the present. Now he could look forward to the next fight with Usagi, think up clever quips to combat her. Now he could meet Sailor Moon and support her as she save the day. 

 

He only realized during one elevator ride how he felt about the both of them. 

 

He rested on one side, shielding his wounds from the girl next to him. They watched, helplessly caged by vines and glass, as they descended deeper into the swirling miasma of a demonic plane. Regardless of what any test said, he knew she was not stupid. While she tried to keep a stony face, her mouth quivered, her eyes darted from him to the throbbing walls. She was scared for him, and no amount of banter would erase the fear. 

 

Mamoru had chest-knocking fears in his heart too. He feared that Sailor Moon might not get to them in time, for starters. How would she even know where they are and how to save them? Yet most of his fears were for Usagi, and strangely enough those fears were tied to indignation. How dear Zoisite do this to her? This villain had no idea who she was! He didn’t know how she huffed her cheeks like a squirrel when annoyed. He didn’t know that she skipped from place to place when full of joy. He didn’t know that sometimes she had the fiercest look of righteous fury when someone thought to bully her friends. Madly, a part of Mamoru thought that if Zoisite knew how full of life and love his Bunhead was, then Zoisite would let her be. How could anyone want to extinguish something so pure and wonderful?

 

Protectiveness veiled him, not out of thinking Usagi was weak but because he knew she was a fighter. The sick visions of her star-colored hair painted red with her own blood, or those sky-blue eyes dimmed forever, made his throat go dry. He prayed to Sailor Moon in his mind - please, please save Usagi. 

 

And then it clicked, settling in his mind like the shore after a wave ebbs. Mamoru knew he loved Usagi. He loved Usagi and needed her to be okay.

 

In present day, Mamoru shifted in his sheets. Fluttering his eyes open, Mamoru then returned his eyes back to his pocket watch. The gold star still shone brightly despite the darkness blanketing the room. The steady tick of the clock had a rhythm of its own but it was drowned out by the ring of the phone next to it.

 

Mamoru slid the phone on his bed and answered. “Hello?”

 

“Mamo-chan!” Usagi wailed. “Mamo-chan! Mamo-chan! Are you up?”

 

“It’s hard not to be awake after that,” He teased, hearing soft grumbles on the other line. “What’s going on, Usako?”

 

“I-um-” Her chirp of a voice went mouse-mute. “It’s...just a nightmare. I’m sorry Mamo-chan.”

 

“What was it about?” He asked, concern lacing his tone. 

 

“It’s nothing! It’s just about the past and all that but I should be-”

 

“Usako,” He stopped her. “Tell me. Let me know.”

 

The other line sighed. “Ooh, you’re so stubborn!” She told him. Mamoru snorted, picturing her puffy cheeks. “It’s… it was… do you remember the day we found out?”

 

He did. As it turned out, the Sailor Moon he admired and the Usagi he loved were one in the same. Not only that, but she had the Silver Crystal he’d been searching for. If he weren’t mortally wounded at the time, he might have died from irony. “What about it?” Mamoru wondered aloud.

 

“Well, it was a-about that.” Usagi went on. Mamoru had to fight the urge to put on his cape and dash over to her house when he heard how shaky she sounded. “I just, I just saw you like before and I needed to know it was just a dream.”

 

He, somehow, remembered that to. Pain wracked all of bones. His wounds tore back open. Sailor Moon’s tears splashed over him as his wisp of a voice tried to calm her down. But that memory didn’t scar him as it did her because of one thing: he was at peace. He protected her from Zoisite and that was all he wanted. 

 

“Usako, it was a dream. Now it’s just a memory.” He told her. “Please don’t cry.”

 

“B-But!” She blubbered. “It felt so real! It was real! I almost lost you the same day I realized I loved you!” 

 

Mamoru’s eyes widened. “You realized it then too?”

 

“I did!” Usagi cried. “I almost didn’t get to tell you!”

 

“Usako,” He breathed. “It’s okay now.”

 

“I-It is?” She sputtered.

 

“It is,” He replied. His free hand was on his chest, feeling the warmth that bloomed from Usagi’s words. “Now I know, and I’ll never forget what you told me.”

 

“Never?” Usagi echoed. “You, you promise?”

 

“I promise,” Mamoru assured her. “The memories I have of us are my treasure, Usako. You just gave me a new one tonight.”

 

He heard a few more sniffles from the phone before she gave him a cheery: “I’m glad.”

 

“Feeling better?” He asked.

 

“Y-Yeah.” Usagi said. “But I’m coming over before school tomorrow! I want to see you.”

 

“You know you’ll be late if you do…” He heard giggles spill out of her. “...oye, you naughty girl. Don’t blame me when you get yelled at later.” Despite himself, Mamoru laughed too.

 

“Goodnight, Mamo-chan. I hope I dream of you tonight.” Usagi confessed.

 

“Goodnight, my Usako.” Mamoru looked at his pocket watch and then said: “I hope you enjoy your dreams of me as much as I enjoy my dreams of you.” 

 

With a final giggle of girlish delight, Usagi hung up. Mamoru placed the phone back on his nightstand and crawled back into his bed. His eyes on the gleaming pocket watch, he let his mind drift to a second vision of his love.  

**Author's Note:**

> For UsaMamo Fanwork Exchange 2k19, and written for uglygreenjacket. I wanted to go for something simple but sweet so I hope that came across!


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